Valorant Agent Viper is a hugely popular character choice for both casual and competitive players alike. Thanks to her incredibly unique abilities, Viper is useful for all situations and is a real benefit to any team. However, just like other Agents in Valorant, there are ways to maximize your effectiveness with this toxic character. So, today Run It Back will be going over Viper’s abilities and the best way to utilize them in-game.

Check out our other Agent guides if you’re curious how to play another character.

looking at viper’s abilities

• Basic Ability #1: Snake Bite | Cost: 100 | Charges: 2
• Basic Ability #2: Poison Cloud | Cost: 200 | Charges: 1
• Signature Ability: Toxic Screen | Cost: Free | Charges 1
• Ultimate Ability: Viper’s Pit | Cost: 7 Points | Charges: 1

snake bite

Equip a chemical launcher. Fire to launch a canister that shatters upon hitting the floor, creating a lingering chemical zone that damages and slows enemies.

Snake Bite is a lot like a few other Valorant Agent’s abilities. Similar to Brimstone’s Incendiary, for example, Snake Bite fires a poison chemical on the floor, hurting enemies that walk through it. The chemical lasts for around 8-9 seconds on the ground, which is a fair amount of time. An ability like this is perfect for halting an enemy’s push or stopping them from defusing a bomb. However, one of the most common uses for Snake Bite is forcing an enemy to move from a corner.

poison cloud

Equip a gas emitter. Fire to throw the emitter that perpetually remains throughout the round. Re-use the ability to create a toxic gas cloud at the cost of fuel. This ability can be re-used more than once and can be picked up to be redeployed.

Another ability that other Agents possess, Poison Cloud is a standard smoke grenade that also has a toxic effect. Though, unlike other smoke grenades, you can throw Poison Cloud much farther, giving you a ton of flexibility.

One aspect that makes Poison Cloud different from other smoke abilities is there is a timer on how long the cloud is active for. At the bottom of your screen, you’ll see a bar with a number. This shows you how long you have before the smoke cloud deactivates. You can manually activate and deactivate the cloud, however, which is great if you want to use some of Viper’s other abilities.

You can see Poison Cloud and every one of Viper’s abilities in our new YouTube video.

toxic screen

Equip a gas emitter launcher. Fire to deploy a long line of gas emitters. Re-use the ability to create a tall wall of toxic gas at the cost of fuel. This ability can be re-used more than once.

If you’re familiar with Agent Phoenix, then you should know the basic effect of Toxic Screen. Like with Poison Cloud, Viper is able to throw Toxic Screen a fairly far distance. When you decide where you want to throw it, 10 poison discs will shoot out of your arm. These discs emit a poison gas that is shaped like a wall. As with Poison Cloud, this poison is on a timer, but you can activate and deactivate the discs at will. Toxic Screen is an extremely useful tool for crossing into bombsites unseen or completely blocking off an enemy’s line of sight.

viper’s pit

Equip a chemical sprayer. Fire to spray a chemical cloud in all directions around Viper, creating a large cloud that reduces the vision range and maximum health of players inside of it.

Arguably the best Ultimate ability in Valorant, Viper’s Pit is a round-winner. Costing seven ultimate points, this ability will emit a giant toxic cloud over an area, damaging enemy shields/health if they step inside of the cloud. If an enemy has no shield left, their health will be affected. If the enemy steps out of the cloud, their shield/health will be restored to where it was previously.

While you can use Viper’s Pit in a variety of ways, the most effective way is using it when a bomb is planted. If you’re on offense, enemies will have to defuse the bomb while being hurt and unable to see very far in front of them. The same goes for defense, but it’s a bit more difficult since you’re the one who has to defuse.

Something to keep in mind with Viper’s Pit: the cloud will deteriorate if you are not in the cloud. If you step out while the ability is active, you have a short amount of time to step back in before the cloud disappears. You don’t get damaged while in the cloud.

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